Number one-seeded Rafael Nadal was challenged in the first set against the unseeded Ivan Ljubicic, but after easing by in it, he dominated the following two. Nadal beat the Croat 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 and once again did not look like himself out there on day nine of the 2011 French Open. The Spaniard has yet to drop a set this time out, but every match is met with criticism, and it's warranted considering how he looks on court. As it stands right now, a struggling Rafael Nadal with a shaken confidence is more than enough to beat guys like John Isner and Ljubicic. Nadal will need to pull himself together, because his present level of play will not be enough to get him past his semifinal opponent, Robin Soderling.
The fifth-seeded Soderling cruised past Gilles Simon in straight sets on Monday, winning his match 6-2, 6-3, 7-6. Soderling was challenged in the third set, but it was nothing more than desperation for the hometown guy, and now we've got an intriguing matchup on our hands. Nadal doesn't need his very best tennis to beat Soderling, but he needs something better than what we're seeing right now.
Andy Murray's match was suspended for the night, and it remains to be seen as to whether or not that is good for him. He dropped the first two sets to the Serbian Viktor Troicki, and looked very bad in doing so, but he responded by winning sets three and four before the delay was called. Troicki jumped to that early lead and Murray wilted under the pressure, and it looked like straight sets. But the fourth-seeded Murrary came back strong and aggressive, winning sets three and four, and now ... nobody knows what will happen.
He'll either think about how he dominated the latter two sets and the rest will help him out, allowing him to take the fifth set and the win, or he'll focus on the negative, something he's been known to do in the past, and it will get into his head and shake him going into the fifth set tomorrow. Flip a coin.
Gael Monfils and David Ferrer continued their matchup today as well, with Ferrer coming into it holding a 2-0 lead in the set and serving for 3-0. He got it, and eventually got to 5-0 before Monfils won a service game, and closed out the set 6-1. The fifth set was fireworks all around though, with Monfils having a double match point and squandering it, before using his brilliant serving to set him up with a triple match point, to eventually take it in the end and advance, as the last Frenchman currently in the tournament. The final scores for that match were 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 8-6.